Optically active 2-hydroxy esters are one of useful organic molecules that can be widely used as medical drugs, pesticides, flavors, food additives, chemical products, optical materials, and the like. Therefore, development of an asymmetric synthesis method for rapidly and conveniently supplying these compounds is a very important study subject.
So far, a method for conveniently producing an optically active 2-hydroxy ester has been hardly reported. With respect to similar techniques, a method for producing an optically active 2-hydroxycarboxylic acid from a racemic 2-hydroxy ester has been reported in Nonpatent Document 1. In this Nonpatent Document 1, a method for producing an optically active 2-hydroxy-2-phenylacetic acid by hydrolyzing an ester moiety of a racemic 2-hydroxy-2-phenylacetic acid methyl ester with an enzyme, and the like are disclosed.
However, the substrate in the production method of Nonpatent Document 1 is limited to one having a phenyl group bonded to position 2; therefore, the method involves a problem of poor generality of the substrate. In addition, this production method does not directly produce an optically active 2-hydroxy ester, and thus lacks convenience for use in producing an optically active 2-hydroxy ester.    Patent Document 1: PCT International Publication No. 2008/140074    Nonpatent Document 1: Adv. Synth. Catal., 2001, 343, p. 547-558